This edited collection will offer interdisciplinary readings of theacclaimed Canadian series Trailer Park Boys. Long hailed as a Canadiancult classic, TPB never received breakout American popularity, primarilydue to its setting within rural Nova Scotia as well as its uniquedocumentary style. Canadian networks like Showcase allowed TPB to airwithoutcensoring its frequent and highly inventive uses of profanity, as wellasits reliance on narratives entangled with alcohol and drug use,extortion,and incarceration.

The show's focus on a rural, low-income community is not entirely new:other television offerings, such as Northern Exposure and Northof 60, have portrayed similar communities, choosing to focus on amixture ofeconomic reality and quirky character drama. But TPB remains unique inthatit simultaneously parodies and critiques the social underpinnings of itsowncommunity. Through the frequently illegal misadventures of its centralprotagonists, Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles, TPB enthusiastically parodiesanimpoverished Canadian community while offering powerful criticisms ofthe legal,educational, economic, and political forces that influence daily lifewithinSunnyvale Trailer Park.

Submissions should look seriously at the range of social forces thataffect thesecharacters' lives, including the strategies they develop for negotiatinga worldwhose political infrastructures are often pitted against them, and whoseliberalhumanist rhetorics seek to erase them as viable citizens. As a comedyaboutfriendship, drugs, alcohol, and breaking the law, TPB is blazinglyfunny. But asa critical look at legislated poverty, legal intervention in poorcommunities,and strategies of daily survival within low-income neighborhoods oftenrenderedinvisible by public policy, it remains an equally important example ofculturalanalysis.